Slide Action Release Lever Stuck

[keikat02]

Hi,

I recently purchased a used Wingmaster 12 gauge to refurbish. In turn, I disassembled all the necessary parts to remove the old varnish from the wood stock/forearm and replaced with a high gloss TRUOIL finish. Also, I removed the old bluing from the receiver/barrel and reblued those parts with Van's bluing. Everything looks good and I am satisfied with the results except I would have liked the metal receiver to have a darker blue color like the original Wingmaster finish.

Today, I reassembled all the parts and ran into a problem I need some help with. After reassembling all the parts, I decided to push up the slide action release lever and it was stuck preventing the slide action from working. Trying to find what the problem was, I removed the magazine cap and loosened the barrel at which point the slide action release lever released allowing me to push upward to slide release to operate the slide action. After returning the slide action back to the locked position and ensuring the barrel was back in place, I screwed the magazine back on and tightened it down with the same results happening as during the first reassembly. The slide release lever was once again stuck and would not push up to release the slide action. Any thoughts or ideas as to why this is happening would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for your responses and possible fix suggestions. Allen S.

[keikat02]

Just an update.

After further inspection, the slide action release lever is getting stuck when the barrel is completely locked down by the magazine cap. If I loosen the magazine cap which allows the barrel to slightly move, the slide action release lever will unstick and allow me to push it up to release the slide. However, once I tighten down the magazine cap so the barrel doesn't move, the slide action release lever becomes stuck once again. Any ideas to fix the issue. Thank you, Allen S.

[Scorpion8]

Make sure the slot in the barrel is correctly seated over the ejector latch rail. Sometimes they can get canted a bit in rotation and not seat correctly. Try removing the barrel and re-installing.